Way to the truth
by Hawise
Summary: Hermiones marriage to Ron wasn't as sweet as she expected and Severus has a life of memorys. Unforseen events bring them together and force them to cooperate. Will they make it? First chapter is now up
1. prolog

"Tree? What tree?" he sighted. Sometimes Remus was just to romantic for his own good. He looked up at the ancient willow, its branches was spread above his head, taking him in into a breath-taking embrace. He didn't feel well in enclosed places, he had never done since he had been a child and even this poor tree did make the hair at his back to rise.

"Why this tree?" he asked his lover anxiously.

"Because it's green and calming and everything." Lupin explained enthusiastically.

"All trees are green you know." Severus was starting to get really annoyed by now. Couldn't Remus see that he didn't feel very well in this fucking place? He probably didn't, or he simply didn't care. The grey eyes met his dark brown ones and Lupins face went into looking very disappointed. Severus just heaved a sight and turned on his heal, leaving as he should have done before he even stepped inside this hopples bush.

"Why are you always so insensitive?" it was Remus again, couldn't he just leave him alone? It was strange how this wonderful person had started to irritate him lately. It would be soon six months since he had met the wolf in the hospital wing after yet another nightly adventure in his dog fur. As he lay there exhausted and vulnerable he looked so beautiful, and Severus had of cause been forced to fall for him, as he was one of the few who didn't seem to turn their backs on him. But as soon as they started to go out together, as the wolf gained his strength, he had begun to be a real murder.

"I'm not insensitive." He decided to reply, his usual tone of ignorance feasted firmly in place. This didn't seem to convince Remus a bit as he saw the flash of hurt in his eyes. He heaved yet another sight. Why was Remus so fucking sensitive then? What was wrong with this man? He knew what was wrong with him, he was simply gay witch Severus unfortunately was not. Even if he had no problem to sleep with the man and he even found himself enjoying it, he felt nothing for him. He somehow didn't feel anything at all, for anyone or anything.

It had been long ago and Severus just didn't what to think about it too often, and still he did. He remembered breaking up with Lupin just a few days after the tree incident. More people like this had followed. At school it had been only Lupin, everyone ells seemed to despise him to much or just seemed to be to frightened of Potter and Black to risk their own skin for his. But after school he had had a few girls in his apartment, none of them lasting longer then six months. With the war at his heels and then his conscience even closer after the unfortunate day that Potter had died, he had no more lust to be with people more then he had to. After the war he had gotten his quiet place at Hogwarts where he could take his anger out on the kids and not on adults that actually could take revenge. And then the second war that took every last hope he had left. He somehow managed to fuck everything up for himself. No one believed him now, from none of the sides. He was finally left alone as he had always wanted, but now it seemed too lonely. With no real work but to brew and sell potions for the black market and his not to good-looking apartment in London, he missed something. His life went in a to boring pattern of everyday work, walks out in the smog, reading, eating and sleeping.

He closed his eyes shut against the light from the streetlamp outside his window and cast the blanket over himself, sure that this night as so many others, he would not get any sleep at all.

In the same time a much younger women, thought the same in her bed. Even if she had a red haired husband snoring by her side, it didn't feel that good at all, it had felt better some years back, during the war, but that was then. Now it was different and much more complicated then it had been then. Marriage had in her case turned out to be much more trying then the whole war itself.


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Of course I don't own these characters and I don't get any money from this either.

M rating is for later chapters were there might be some bad language and sexual content.

* * *

**Chapter 1**

"Honey, would you be so sweet and pick up Ellen from school today, I know it is my turn today but I got an owl an hour ago that there are some problems with a goose farm outside London, there's a bit of strange smell of burned feathers over the place. People have started to wonder if there hasn't been some fire breathing beasts among the normal ones."

Hermiones eyes rolled up to the ceiling before she turned around to face her husband with a sweet smile.

"Of course darling, no problem." in her head she started to count the million things she had to do, trying to ignore that little voice that told her that Ron was probably just going to get a firewisky with Harry after working hours.

Ron had not managed to get to the dream of an auror carrier and instead gone in the footsteps of his father and taken over the department of misuse of muggle objects. He unfortunately wasn't as enthusiastic over his job as his father had been and used to take the muggles into more trouble then they already were before his team arrived. Harry had gone were else then after his auror carrier, and succeeded much better then Ron. By now he was reaching up for the post of head of the auror department.

Hermione had no lust to go and fight more after the war, Harry had to her seemed almost fanatically obsessed with the fact of hunting down the last deatheaters and after that other criminals that just didn't want to disappear even in the peaceful time after Voldemorts defeat. She had been inspired by the, now very old but still very aggressive, Rita Skeeter and become a journalist. She was happy with her work, and others seamed to be as well. Truth was her main goal was truth and the daily prophet was overloaded by her enthusiastic work. Unfortunately work took a lot of time, the household as well and the little doter she now had took the rest of it and a little more. It was just a bit too much for her.

She kissed her husband goodbye as he ran out the door the little red-haired girl at his heals, dragging her bag after her. It had been hard to talk Ron into letting the girl go to muggle school before she attended Hogwarts, but she had fortunately succeeded, once and for the last time. As the door closed behind them she sighted and closed her eyes. It was quiet, finally quiet. She smiled a little sad smile before she turned to the stairs to the upper landing and went of to sit down in her chair and start to work.

As she went through the door and looked up, she nearly jumped as she came face to face with a big, brown owl that was looking at her with utter importance. It was her boss' owl.

"Ferret, what now? Isn't he happy with the work I do already, he must of course throw even more on my shoulders, doesn't he?" She stroked the bird's feathers. Why had Dalwor given this bird such a crazy name anyway? Poor bird. Ferret sat down on the perch that originally belonged to her own owl, and began drinking fanatically.

She freed him of his burden and unrolled the parchment. More work. This time it was some new information from the aurors that had lead him to get her another thing to think of. It was information of where the old deatheaters lived now, those who had not been managed to be condemned to a lifetime in Azkaban. The aurors had probably been keen enough not to let those people of the hook so easily and had set tails on them, keeping them informed of their activity. And Dalwor had managed to beg himself to this list. Wonderful. She would have to deny this job, the faces of those killer she would never want to see again, never. She wrought an apologising letter to her boss and then sat down to work on the last report about gold mysteriously disappearing from Gringorts.

* * *

The night air did suit Severus perfectly. The dark, moistly air was exactly what he needed after a whole day locked up in his apartment. Even if the streets in his neighbourhood weren't exactly what you would call nice and clean, they were at least not crowded. Here and there some youngsters ran by, an angry policeman running after them, other times it was grown men, trying to get home on unsteady feet.

"Hi, how are you today?" He said sadly to a bunch of rags on the ground. Something grunted sleepily from underneath them, the man underneath turned a pair of watery eyes towards him.

"I have your usual food" Severus continued, now his neutral voice in place, and tossed a package in the mans arms.

"Thank you Derek." The man exclaimed thankfully and opened up his package with eyes shining with delight. Severus did this often, he had met this man when he had been on the run and he had helped him to disappear into the darker parts of London were most people didn't go that often. You could say that in a certain way this man had saved his life.

Potter, who simply hadn't turned up for his hearing, had freed him from his guilt. Why he had no idea. First he thought Potter had decided to kill him himself, but then he never turned up. The aurors had his address, he knew that, they had been tailing him for a long time now, and their records contained his name more then once. They had tried to get him in for small things but he had watched himself not to do even the slightest of mistakes to make them follow him to court. He stayed at the same spot so none of them would be too suspicious. It was hard enough to get through their controls to be able to sell his potions. No one would by a potion from him now, so he was glad that the black market didn't really care where it came from. He didn't even have the same person to take his potions, it depended on who was interested for the moment. Sometimes even some people came with special requests about their potions and he brew it for them. It wasn't much that he got, but it was enough for holding his little apartment together and to get his ingredients and something to eat.

The dirty stairs up to his apartment were dark as usual, as the light had been smashed by some of the youngsters that lived above him. He put the key in its lock as he heard a slight caught behind him. He turned around, pulling his wand from the sleeve. A figure sat on the dirty stairs that lead to the landing above. Long, fluffy hair lay around her head, visible even in the dark corridor. He was so sure he had seen those untidy curls somewhere before, but if you would kill him he wouldn't remember were.

"I thought it would be easier to find you in the evening professor, but you don't seem to be easy to catch at all." The voice he did recognise.


End file.
